Tricking a 4 year old

Catherine has REALLY been into fashion lately. She is very picky about the clothes that she wears and tends to refuse most of my suggestions. She spent much of the summer telling Bill that she did not want to wear turtlenecks. These turtlenecks that she was referring to, however, were actually polo shirts. Now that the weather is getting colder, turtlenecks are back on for discussion. My mother decided to buy a few new things for Catherine to wear to school. She is very creative about getting Catherine to do something. My mother had a talk with Catherine about the shirts one day while I was work. I was told that she had agreed to wear them.

Last night Catherine and I were having our usual discussion of what she'll be wearing in the morning. I told her that she could wear her new dress. She told me that she did not have a shirt to go underneath it. I said "Yes, you do. Remember that Meme bought a turtleneck for you?". "No, she didn't!".
"Yes, Catherine, she bought a new one the other day and you helped pick it out".
She replied "Mommy, thats not a turtleneck - that's a CHICKENNECK!!"
She went to school this morning in a lovely patchwork suede dress, tights, black flats and a pink chickenneck!

Monkey see....

It's amazing what kids pick up at such young ages! Recently we were in the supermarket and we saw a neighbor and her son in the same aisle as us. They said "hello" and we went on our way. This particular aisle was very busy and I was searching for a can of diced tomatoes (why do all of the diced tomatoes have seasoning in them already? I just wanted PLAIN). I finally looked down at Catherine and saw that she was holding up her middle finger in front of her face!! I was horrified because I had no idea how long she was doing this and how many other people had seen her. I calmly said "Catherine, can you please put that finger down?". She said "Mommy, do you know this finger can talk?"!!

I spent the whole ride home grilling her about where she learned this. She insisted that she had made it up. She will be a wonderful secret-keeping friend one day! Finally, when we got home she told me that the boy next door taught her. She is now forbidden to play out in the front yard.

Where to start?

Well, at the beginning, of course! My name is Jen and I am a mother to two beautiful girls. Catherine is 4 (or 4 1/2 as she constantly reminds us) and Maddie is turning 1 in a couple of weeks. I have a wonderful husband, Bill. A dog, Abby. A cat, Tigger. Oh, we have a fish too - Kipper. He was not my idea. We both work full-time and things certainly get hectic. We love our little girls and how they make our life so interesting. Motherhood is such a learning process and I still have so much to learn!